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Ryan Taylor
| birth_place = Phelan, California | death_date = | death_place = | resides = | billed = | trainer = Jesse Hernandez | debut = March 27, 2004 | retired = }} Russell Gene Taylor (January 26, 1987) is an American professional wrestler best known by the ring-names of Ryan Taylor and Russ Taylor. He is primarily working for several independent wrestling promotions on the west coast of the United States and continues to travel outside the country to Mexico City and Japan. He also does work with the WWE while never being under contract. Professional wrestling career Empire Wrestling Federation Debut; Cruiserweight Champion (2004-2007) At 16 years old he began training at the EWF's training school, Jesse Hernandez's School of Hard Knocks and had his match for the EWF on March 27, 2004. Taylor wrestled to gain experience and won the 2004 Rookie of the year award in the company. In the spring of 2006 Taylor had his first feud with Joey Harder and after a series of hard matches, Taylor won the EWF Cruiserweight Championship on June 9, 2006. Taylor also won the 2006 Most Improved Award, becoming the first recipient of it. Taylor's reign as the Cruiserweight Champion lasted for 399 days until ending on July 13, 2007 when Markus Riot defeated Taylor in a Best of 3 Falls match to win the EWF Cruiserweight Championship. Ryan won back the EWF Cruiserweight Championship by ending Markous Riot's reign after only 22 days. At EFW's Meltdown, Taylor forced Riot to submit to win back the title. Taylor's second reign as the EWF Cruiserweight Champion only 77 days until October 10, 2007 when Maximo defeated Ryan Taylor to win the EWF Cruiserweight Championship. In November, Ryan Taylor competed in the EWF's Inland Title Series Tournament against J.T. Blackstar, Scorpio Sky, and Brandon Gatson. He placed third with a final score of 1-2-0. Taylor also won the 2007 Match of the Year Award for his match against Marcus Riot at the Covina Classic on June 9. The KOS (2008-2009) In the early part of 2008 Taylor formed a stable known as the KOS alongside Mondo Vega and Hook Bomberry. On August 23, 2008 in San Bernardino, California, Taylor defeated Vizzion in the main event at Flirting With Disaster for the EWF American Championship and had new female wrestler Aiden Riley join the KOS as well. The KOS then feuded with TJ Perkins and Liger Rivera until the end of the year in a very intense feud that not only won the Feud of the Year 2008 Award but Taylor would win the Match of the Year 2008 Award for his Belt on a Pole match against Perkins in which Taylor would win the NWA Heritage Championship from Perkins. Taylor also wrestled the main event of the first ever So-cal supershow featuring the combined companies of EWF and AWS against TJ Perkins and Scott Lost in a triple threat match for the AWS Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Championships and Taylor's NWA Heritage Championship, in which Taylor retained his title. Taylor held and defended both the EWF American Championship and the NWA Heritage Championship in the early parts of 2009 until losing the Heritage title to Oliver John in a Fatal 4-way match at the main event of the Cauliflower Ally Club Show after pinning Chris Hero and he lost the American title to Liger Rivera at the EWF's 14th Anniversary Show. EWF Heavyweight Championship (2009-2011) On October 30, 2009, after returning from Japan and being set on climbing the EWF to the top, Taylor defeated Brandon Gatson to win the EWF Heavyweight Championship. Taylor began to feud with his former stable the KOS in late 2009 and the early parts of 2010, ultimately ending with a Street Fight between Taylor and Mondo Vega, that ended the KOS as Taylor prevailed. During his 567 reign as EWF Heavyweight Champion, he would successfully defended his title 25 times against some of the independents top talent including Human Tornado and Scorpio Sky as well as EWF talent such as Extreme Loco, HJ Starr, Liger Rivera, Mike Mountain, Roger Ruiz, Shaun Ricker, SoCal Crazy and Terex. On May 20, 2011 Taylor lost the EWF Heavyweight Championship to Johnny Starr. However, several weeks later on August 12, he would regain the championship, only to lose it 21 days later to Shaun Ricker. Taylor participated in Inland Title Series Tournament in November and made it to the finals but lost to Jeremy Jaeger. Championship Wrestling from Hollywood (2008-present) Taylor made his debut for NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood on December 21, 2008, defeating Jay Streets. During the early years of the promotion, Taylor was used sporadically but that would change in 2011 when he would become a regular competitor. Taylor began feuding with Peter Avalon in April and would continue throughout the year and into 2012. Avalon initially had the upper hand winning two out of two matches, however, Taylor's fortunes would change on July 10 when he defeated Avalon in a six-man tag team hair vs. hair match where Avalon and Taylor's hair were on the line. Avalon would bounce back by defeating Taylor in a number one contendership match and an "anything goes" match. The feud culminated on February 12, 2012, when Taylor defeated Avalon once and for all in a steel cage match. With this win, Taylor would go on to challenge Scorpio Sky for the NWA Hollywood Television Championship in April but lost. He would move onto the Percy Pringle III Cup where on the way to the finals, he defeated Peter Avalon once again. The finals took place on July 22, where Taylor would win the tournament by defeating Shaun Ricker and guaranteeing a shot at the CWFH Heritage Heavyweight Championship. After winning the tournament, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood split from NWA and would subsequently change the name of their championships so the CWFH Heritage Heavyweight Championship became the Hollywood Heritage Championship. In the beginning of 2013, Taylor defeated Tyler Cintron in a qualifying match for the Red Carpet Rumble. This match took place on May 5, where Shaun Ricker would win the match and the Hollywood Heritage Championship. Straight after the match however, Taylor cashed in his Percy Pringle III Cup title shot and lost. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2009-2012) On November 20, 2009, Taylor made his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) debut at the first night of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles, where he teamed with Malachi Jackson in a losing effort against the Cutler Brothers (Brandon and Dustin Cutler). Taylor continued to perform on every PWG show since, including having a standout and stellar match against Brandon Gatson at Titannica and teaming with Roderick Strong at the DDT4 tournament in May 2010, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Cutler Brothers. On September 4 Taylor entered the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles, but was eliminated in the first round by Brandon Gatson. The following day Taylor formed a new alliance with Chuck Taylor and Brian Cage (who would adopt the ring name Brian Cage-Taylor), called the Fightin' Taylor Boys. In the early portion of 2011, Fightin' Taylor Boys lost a number one conders corners match and partook in the Joey Ryan invatational and lost. The Fightin' Taylor Boys lost to the RockNES Monsters in the first round of the 2012 DDT4. World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2019) On the June 17 episode of RAW, as Russ Taylor, he teamed with wrestler Gustin Uberstud as Randy Taylor in a tag team squash match won by The Viking Raiders. In Wrestling *'Signature Moves' :*Split-Legged Moonsault :*Super Kick *'Nicknames' :*''The SoCal Kid'' :*''The King of Submissions'' *'Tag teams' :*The Vermin with Brandon Gatson Championships and Accomplishments *'Championship Wrestling From Hollywood' **Percy Pringle III Cup (2012) *'Empire Wrestling Federation' **EWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current) **EWF American Championship (1 time) **EWF Cruiserweight Championship (2 times) **Great Goliath Battle Royal (2008) **Wrestler of the Year (2008) **Match of the Year (2008) **Match of the Year (2007) **Most Improved Wrestler (2006) **Rookie of the Year (2004) *'Millennium Pro Wrestling' **MPW World Championship (1 time, current) **MPW World Title Tournament (2010) *'NWA Pro Wrestling' **NWA Heritage Championship (1 time) *'West Coast Wrestling Connection' **WCWC Heavyweight Championship External links *Ryan Taylor CageMatch profile *Ryan Taylor on Twitter *Ryan Taylor’s profile on The Wrestling Revolution.com Category:1987 births Category:2004 debuts Category:American wrestlers Category:California wrestlers Category:Millennium Pro Wrestling alumni Category:West Coast Wrestling Connection alumni Category:NWA Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Guerrilla alumni Category:Empire Wrestling Federation alumni Category:Championship Wrestling from Hollywood current roster Category:Alternative Wrestling Show alumni Category:Apex Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Vendetta Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Wrestling Cares Association alumni Category:Big Time Wrestling alumni Category:National Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:New Wave Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Alpha Omega Wrestling alumni Category:Global Infinity Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Union Independent Pro Wrestling alumni Category:SoCal Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Mach One Pro Wrestling alumni Category:Insane Wrestling League alumni Category:Full Contact Wrestling alumni Category:Kaientai Dojo alumni Category:International Wrestling League alumni Category:Pro Wrestling Revolution alumni Category:High Risk Wrestling alumni Category:Lucha VaVoom alumni Category:High Desert Championship Wrestling alumni Category:New Japan Dojo alumni Category:Rising Phoenix Wrestling alumni Category:Oddity Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:Future Stars Of Wrestling current roster Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers